Thinking about Tolkien and the way he composed new character names from other words, it strikes me that he chose certain words because of their meanings. Each older word had an original meaning, so Tolkien would either take a piece of the original word or would combine multiple pieces or words to create a name for a character that physically portrayed the meaning of the original word(s).
We all know that words have meaning, but I think we forget that names have effects. We're probably all beyond the point of childishly calling other people names and making them feel poorly about themselves, but are we beyond naming people before we have enough evidence to know that the name fits? It's not like we say these names audibly, but I personally carry them in my mind wherever I go. I name people I meet and people I've known for a long time, but I forget to check the facts and make sure the name fits. Once we place people into a category or designation, it can be difficult to change our automatic assumptions and, as a result, to change how we treat certain people.
Choose words, but especially names, carefully.
2 comments:
Good post! Your insight on the power of words, but especially names, is perceptive. I like how you say we all name people we meet and while we don't say those names aloud, we say them in our minds and this affects how we treat others. Tolkien probably would have agreed with you, and being a professor of language, he would have advocated for careful consideration of the way we name people. One only needs to look at how carefully he named people in his works to see this.
-Vairë
Something I have always found interesting about not just Tolkien, but about authors in general, is how the naming of a character often comes after the characterization. As humans in today's society, we are given our names at birth before we fully develop our personalities. Most authors do this differently, developing their ideas for a character first and then choosing a fitting name for them, whether it is as strategically as Tolkien chose his names or not. I love that Tolkien's names are meaningful as it adds more depth to a character, but I would also have to wonder what names Bilbo or Frodo would have been given if their names were not as well thought through, and not as fitting to their personalities.
Thank you for sharing!
-Melian
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